The family-owned Taco Shop Mexican Grill in San Bernadino has been serving diners since 2008, and for the first time, the eatery has been barely keeping afloat.
Victor Soleto blames the downturn on the fact that the county has been classified as a purple zone risk for COVID-19 since August.
The purple zone, also known as tier 1, is the most restrictive in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the state's coronavirus reopening plan.
“Revenue and customers are down and I'm dropping employees,” Soleto told the Southern California Record. “Pretty soon, it’s going to be just me and my immediate family working, which is me, my brother, mother, and father.”
Soleto said he wishes the government would do more to assist
“The government has to wake up and help businesses more,” he said. “These businesses right here are the ones that make the world go round. What we need, honestly, is immediate funds. My father received Paycheck Protection Program funds from the first round but that money, in just a snap of the fingers, was gone to pay employees.”
Soleto is among the restaurant owners in San Bernadino County who are limited to offering take out meals under Gov. Newsom’s latest color-coded restrictions based on coronavirus risk of exposure.
“We're starting to cut employees and that's what I don't want,” he said. “I don't want my mother and father to go back to work. My dad is 77 years old. They should be retired.”
According to media reports, the San Bernadino County Board of Supervisors directed staff last week to prepare a lawsuit against the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom, challenging the reopening plan.
“A lawsuit should help,” Soleto said. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”
As of Dec. 3, there were 1.2 million coronavirus cases and 19,437 fatalities statewide, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.
"We have all the coronavirus posts in the restaurant," Soleto said. "We're taking all protocols very seriously. We're not trying to get sick or get anyone sick."
The Daily Press reported that the reason the county has remained in the most restrictive zone is due to the fact that it allegedly did not meet state criteria for testing positivity rate.